The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reported that the U.S. infant mortality rate dropped 15 percent between 2005 and 2014, and that sudden infant death syndrome had declined by 29 percent.

The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) today announced Pamela Austin Thompson, MS, RN, CENP, FAAN, AONE CEO emeritus, is the 2017 recipient of its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors an AONE member recognized by the nursing community as a significant leader in the nursing profession who has served AONE in an important leadership capacity. Thompson will be honored during an awards presentation March 30 at AONE’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

Some phrases are said so often that we can become deaf to them. Like an adult who hears “it is important to exercise and eat well” or a nurse who hears “patient safety is priority.” But just because it’s familiar doesn’t mean it’s not foundational to preserving life.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an estimate of the impact of the Republican proposal to repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), concluding that about 24 million people would lose their health insurance coverage over 10 years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a preview of expected changes to its electronic clinical quality measure standards, terminology and specifications for 2018 quality reporting and incentive programs.

In an attempt to gain greater awareness of the chronic care management (CCM) billing codes available for Medicare patients since 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched an educational initiative for both doctors and patients.

Frontline nurses recognize operational failures (OFs) and breakdowns in system processes that threaten the quality and safety of patient care, but have not been widely used to identify those failures, nursing researchers write in Research in Nursing & Health.

The Advisory Board published an interview with Linda Hofler, RN, PhD, senior vice president and chief nursing officer of Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, N.C. about how she sold her C-suite on a nursing initiative that saved money, ensured quality and safety, and cut new RN turnover in half.

As part of a series exploring how hospitals can respond to community violence, Hospitals & Health Networks relates examples of hospitals that have had to treat the victims of mass casualty events, and how preparation can save lives.

The National Healthcare Safety Network, (NHSN) will host a webcast March 20-24 with its annual training program for people who use the system to submit data on health care-associated infections for acute-care or long-term care facilities, or to identify opportunities to improve patient safety

Susan Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN, a member of the board of RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey, described her experience as a trustee—and what nurses bring to boards—in a first-person article in Trustee magazine.

Safety for me is part of my daily work. It is incorporated into the heart and soul of what I do every day. Most of my days start with a safety huddle. Whether I am there in person or listen on the phone, it sets the tone of the day. In 15 minutes, I can respond to what happened in the last 24 hours and predict things to come for the next 24 hours. This focus on safety allows me to have a preoccupation with failure as it allows me to continue to see how processes in my environment can have continuous improvement.

Sue Collier MSN, RN, FABC, is clinical content development lead at the AHA’s Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) and responded to questions from AONE about engaging patients and families in clinical safety. Collier has held a variety of clinical and executive leadership positions in a multi-hospital health care system, including corporate vice president for patient-family experience. Collier also served at the North Carolina Quality Center/North Carolina Hospital Association as a performance improvement specialist in patient and family engagement.

AONE CEO Maureen Swick, RN, PhD, wrote to members of Congress this week to express the organization’s concern about disruptions to patient care that could take place if the proposed American Health Care Act is approved.

The American Hospital Association’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative, Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) and the Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI) will host a March 23 webinar on how hospitals and health systems can help prevent human trafficking.

AONE has joined with several other health care organizations and the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare to host the first Compassion in Action Healthcare Conference in Boston June 25-27. Attendees will share best practices on issues such as workforce burnout, strengthening patient-family engagement and providing quality compassionate care in health systems.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued answers to frequently asked questions for hospitals implementing the Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON), including guidance on completing the free-text field that explains why the patient is not an inpatient.

On behalf of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), we are writing to express our concerns about the American Health Care Act, legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Nurses can turn to the profession’s founding ethical principles when considering major policy changes that can accompany a shift in the White House, advises Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, RN, PhD, FAAN, dean of the New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing in the Journal of Gerontological Nursing.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has produced a detailed brief outlining the issues related to regulation of advanced nurse practice and the arguments for making state rules more consistent and less restrictive.

The proportion of U.S. pregnancies with Zika-associated birth defects is about 20 times higher than it was before the virus spread to the Americas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

A group of clinicians and researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine write in the Joint Commission Journal of Quality and Patient Safety about their efforts to connect the organization’s financial oversight structure with its patient safety goals.

AONE joined 2,000 national, state and local organizations in calling for lawmakers to maintain adequate funding for many nondefense discretionary (NDD) federally funded programs. Sent this week, the letter from NDD United notes that these programs serve vital national needs, but have been subject to repeated cuts over the past six years.

AONE and the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) will host a March 14 webinar on “Partnering for Progress in Quality and Safety.” Participants will hear from two hospital nurse leaders that have used the HRET Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) to improve quality and patient safety in their organizations.

A study examining records of care in community health centers around the country found that based on nine indicators of quality and service utilization, there is no difference in the care provided by physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report summarizing 2014 data on health care access and use of clinical preventive services by adults, based on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeks input through March 28 on a draft pediatric care model concept for children and youth covered by Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Hospitals can support nightshift workers in specific ways, such as looking for signs of fatigue such as slow reaction time, irritability or poor memory, said Ann E. Rogers, PhD, RN, Edith F. Honeycutt chair of nursing and professor and director of graduate studies at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta.

Susan B. Hassmiller, PhD, RN, FAAN, who leads the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, spoke to the Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies, telling young nurses that they must see themselves as leaders, find out what they are passionate about and be vocal.

Nurse recruitment and retention are the top nursing challenges health care organizations face, according to a HealthLeaders survey. Recruitment was cited by 61 percent of recruitment by 59 percent; other responses included nurse engagement (35 percent) and nurse leadership development (33 percent).